Filler

Panacea

Kids
sniffle
lick snot from upper lips
with pink darting tongues
shiny eyes
doleful
beseeching comfort
blonde heads
radiating too much heat
as their tiny hands cling
to my milk vomit moist shirt

I
mentally inert
offer inapt comfort
kisses
cool cheek pressed against hot
hands freckled with mis-washed dough
stroke backs arched and rigid
until little bodies relax
eyelids flutter and close

Then sneak away to my alchemy laboratory
to bake oat bread
and stir the turkey noodle soup.